How to add all types of accounts in Windows 11

WINDOWS 11

By Lance Whitney

Need to juggle more than one account in Windows? Here’s how I do it.

I use a Microsoft account to sign in to my main Windows 11 PC. But that’s not the only account I’ve set up on the computer. I also have a domain account that I use for work, accounts for email and calendar appointments, an account for an old email forwarding service, and an account for my wife to sign in. That sounds like a lot to juggle. But after the initial setup, I can access all these accounts throughout Windows.

Maybe you also need to work with multiple accounts in Windows 11. You might have a local account, a Microsoft account, a work or school account, accounts for specific apps, and accounts for other family members. Whatever types of accounts you use, you’re able to add them to Windows — all from the same place.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.46.0, 2024-11-11).

Microsoft 365 gets “Copilot Lite”

MICROSOFT 365

By Peter Deegan

Microsoft is offering big changes to Microsoft 365 Family and Personal plans, which may eventually mean price increases for all customers.

It’s a trial balloon which, if profitable for Microsoft, will be rolled out globally. Let’s look at the important limits on the Copilot feature, along with the significant rise in price. And I’ll also explain why it’s an opportunity for many AskWoody readers to lock in the current Microsoft 365 price and thus save some money.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.46.0, 2024-11-11).

You clicked on that phish?

ON SECURITY

By Susan Bradley

It happens. You fell for it. You clicked on something you shouldn’t have. You followed a link. You entered your password on a site that wasn’t legitimate.

In these instances, you didn’t suffer an intrusion to your computer. Instead, your login credentials were impacted. What should you do?

First, don’t panic. In the case of many attacks these days, your operating system is still intact — not impacted in any way. The once standard reaction “I got hacked, so I’ll restore my computer from a clean backup or reinstall from scratch” probably isn’t necessary. In fact, it may be irrelevant to your response.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.46.0, 2024-11-11).

How do you make Windows 11 more like…

The other day a question was posed if I would ensure that there was guidance on how to make Windows 11 more like Windows 10.

I thought it was a good idea to have not only a knowledge base on the topic but have a dedicated forum specifically on the topic of recommended tools, tips, registry entries and software to get Windows 11 to look – and quite frankly act – more like Windows 10 or even Windows 7.

I’ve already kicked off the forum with one of my pet peeves – the Windows Explorer menu.  I personally find that I click on “more” so many times that it slows me down.  I tried the default, but finally gave into going back when I realized how much it was slowing me down.

So check out the new forum and ask what things you’d like to change and share what things you’ve changed and how you did it!

MS-DEFCON 2: ESU plans announced for Windows 10

By Susan Bradley

In the midst of Microsoft’s pushing Windows 11 24H2 and updates for Windows 10, caution is in order.

As a result, I’m raising the MS-DEFCON level to 2. Keep 24H2 at bay, and give me a few weeks to understand and fully vet next week’s updates.

We’ve known for some time that Extended Security Update (ESU) plans would be offered for Windows 10 in October 2025, when regular support ends. What we did not know until recently was the cost for consumers. Last week, on Halloween, Microsoft gave us a treat by announcing a price of $30 for one year. Exact details about obtaining these ESU plans will be disclosed later next year.

Anyone can read the full MS-DEFCON Alert (21.45.1, 2024-11-07).

Servers getting upgraded to 2025?

Be aware, I’m seeing reports on reddit here and here that KB5044284 is being offered up to Server 2019, 2022 and is upgrading them to Server 2025.

As noted in the post:

“Andrei from Heimdal here, man, I’m really sorry for the havoc that was created with this update, our team (thanks for raising this with them – I have a feeling you were the first to bring it up to our Customer Success team) managed to pinpoint this and blocked this update across all server policies to avoid any further upgrades from 2022 to 2025

I also notice another point in the chat where you’re asking how to apply a granular approach to updates – if you’d like, we can set a call up tomorrow and we can look at this one together.

Here’s the official com. that just went out a while ago:
On 5th Nov 12.16UTC, Heimdal was notified by a customer about unexpected upgrades related to Windows Server 2025 in their environment. Due to the limited initial footprint, identifying the root cause took some time. By 18:05 UTC, we traced the issue to the Windows Update API, where Microsoft had mistakenly labelled the Windows Server 2025 upgrade as KB5044284.

Our Analysis and Fix:
Our team discovered this discrepancy in our patching repository, as the GUID for the Windows Server 2025 upgrade does not match the usual entries for KB5044284 associated with Windows 11. This appears to be an error on Microsoft’s side, affecting both the speed of release and the classification of the update. After cross-checking with Microsoft’s KB repository, we confirmed that the KB number indeed references Windows 11, not Windows Server 2025.

Currently, we can see that approximately 7% of our customers have been impacted by this upgrade. To prevent further unintended upgrades, we have immediately blocked KB5044284 across all server group policies.”

If you don’t have a patching tool, use one of the www.blockapatch.com tools to block that patch.  The good news is that inplace upgrades are supported on Server 2012r2 and higher.  The bad news is that you may not WANT to have upgraded to Server 2025 and now be in an unlicensed state.

November 2024 Office non-Security updates

Microsoft released NO non-security updates for Office on November 5, 2024

Office 2016 reached  End of Mainstream Support on October 13, 2020. EOS for Office 2016 is October 14, 2025.

Updates are for the .msi version (perpetual). Office 365 and C2R are not included.

Security updates for all supported versions of Microsoft Office are released on the second Tuesday of the month (Patch Tuesday).

Microsoft 365 vs. Office 2024 — which to buy?

MICROSOFT 365

By Peter Deegan

Comparing Microsoft 365’s subscription/rental to the single-purchase, perpetual-license Office 2024 “boxed” product is not quite the same as comparing apples to oranges, but it’s certainly not easy.

I’ll try to present the facts and burst some myths so you can make your own decision based on your situation. I’ll also give my recommendation with reasons and concerns. See Is Office 2024 worth getting excited about? (AskWoody, October 14, 2024) for my overview of the latest perpetual-license Office.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.45.0, 2024-11-04).
This story also appears in our public Newsletter.